[Archived] JA's Sky Sports interview

[OJRovers]

I think it's a good reply Glen

[Mercer]

Firstly this was a draft, secondly it is in response to Andersons comments made about Simon and I,

Yes we have a PR on board, but at present we are negotiating the cost (Are you gonna foot the cost?)

Glen - a very good response.

Disregard the odd knocker. The majority of supporters recognise you, Simon etc are working feckin hard and doing your absolute level best.

The LT has come to the party now, albeit a tad late, and I think it's only a matter of time before the penny drops with other press, media.

IMO, Anderson is running scared and hence perceived 'strong arm' tactics (solicitor onto LT).

[SouthAussieRover]

Great work Glen. I was wondering my requests for such action were being deleted.

Boy am i glad action is being taken to address problems with the wheel barrow.

[technoprisoners]

Glenn and Simon, thank you for the hard work and for putting these points across to the Press. Let's hope that the wider Press publish them as they represent the sentiments of supporters who have the Club's interests at heart and no ulterior motive for expressing their views, unlike agents, advisers and others who only see the Club as a source of income.

[yoda]

Just read this on 200%,

One emerging problem with the “benefactor model” of club ownership is “what happens next?” Blackburn Rovers have struggled with this problem since their 1990s benefactor, steel magnate Jack Walker, died in 2000. And current owners Venky’s are not, yet anyway, the solution. Walker, who famously took Rovers to/bought the 1995 Premier League title, made some post-benefactor plans, forming the “Jack Walker Settlement” (JWS), a trust based in the Jersey tax haven, where he lived from 1974, when his riches attracted taxes which the great benefactor was…erm…unprepared to give.The Trust dealt with the practicalities of Walker’s business legacy, to “promote and enlarge all my business interests.” For Rovers this meant providing finance “for the foreseeable future”, which manifested itself in annual £3m contributions. £3m wasn’t quite “a lot of money in those days.” But it became exponentially less significant over time. And the end of the “foreseeable future,” as David Conn wrote in the Guardian newspaper in 2008, “was apparently reached in January” when JWS trustees saw “no immediate requirement to invest further.” Rovers’ then-chairman John Williams negotiated funding for the short-term. But the trustees wanted to sell the club and Rovers had already joined the Premier League clubs searching for wealthy investment in those immediate pre-recession days.

They attracted suitors such as Daniel Williams, Chris Ronnie and Nabeel Chowdery until the economic freeze turned the trail cold. Then in 2010, Indian businessmen Saurin Shah and Ahsan Ali-Syed emerged. Syed became front-runner, thanks to some outlandish promises, before his murky business background was exposed by BBC journalist Adrian Goldberg. La Liga’s Racing Santander didn’t heed the warnings and Syed arrived there last January, before being exposed again and disappearing, leaving the perennially cash-strapped Racing in administration. The Rao family, which runs the Indian poultry conglomerate, arrived in Blackburn when Syed left (so Rovers had a lucky escape with Syed…but not that lucky), introduced by players’ agent Jerome Anderson. Anderson had been touting Blackburn around for the Trust, a comedown from investment bankers Rothschilds, who had touted Rovers around in 2008. Venky’s had considerable business credibility but no football credibility, as we now know. Alongside numerous PR-stunt disasters (Ronaldinho, Maradona etc…), they presided over an £18.6m loss in 2010/11.

Most fans, with an understandably secondary interest at best in Rovers’ financial intricacies, have focused their ire on manager Steve Kean, who was promoted from coach to manager by Venky’s. He was as over-promoted as that sounded, with his reputation sullied by being an Anderson client and clearly becoming manager because of that. Anderson claimed this was “absolute, utter rubbish…garbage” in a recent Sky interview (“he’d already been there a couple of years”), but failed to explain how Kean did get the job. Kean’s public statements haven’t helped either. Optimism in the face of dreadful results has mixed with time-dishonoured accusations that protesters against his tenure were not “true” fans – an accusation Anderson insidiously repeated to Sky (see below).

Kean has had considerable, if ill-informed, sympathy from media and managers for withstanding some fearful abuse on matchdays. Everton boss David Moyes walked out, “in protest” at half-time in the Blackburn/Bolton game (he gave his reasons…but I didn’t like them, so I stopped reading halfway through…in protest). Powerful imagery induces this sympathy – Kean staring into the middle-distance from his technical area to a backdrop of faces turned monumentally unattractive by contortions of rage and gestures only the most innocent minds could not understand. Kean is an issue. 37 points from 42 Premier League games tells a tale. And Venky’s business plan requires Premier League status. But Kean is not the issue. Venky’s ownership is.

The early cluelessness of the Raos – especially “matriarch” Anuradha Desai – has proved the most sustainable aspect of their ownership, awarding the “brilliant” Kean a pay rise in December being the latest example. Pointless pursuits of star players were replaced by pointless plans, revealed with disdain in the Guardian, for a concert featuring R&B stars Akon and Kelly Rowland. Their communication has been hopelessly vague or non-existent. A Rao brother (the relatively sensible-sounding Venkat or the pony-tailed 1970s throwback Balaji) has regularly assured fans of their “desire, passion and commitment” and 94 variations thereof. Even the latest annual report fell victim to meaningless language. The ‘Executive Report’ said Venky’s wanted “to build a successful and sustainable club…(and)… have a desire to see (Rovers) prosper on and off the field.” As opposed to what, you may wonder.

Some suggested – as standard in such football club takeovers – that the purchase was cover for asset-stripping. But Venky’s motives were transparently different. Fans who credit the Raos with any coherent strategy believe they want to Venky’s to help “build” the Rovers “brand” worldwide, especially in India. Indeed, the vacuous psychobabble that is “building the brand” is another heading in the annual report. But that is back-to-front. The Raos were sold a vision of this worldwide “EPL brand” which was as misleading as whoever told Dick Whittington London’s streets were “paved with gold.” And “we can benefit from being owners of a major football club. It will help build our brand,” Desai told the Times of India newspaper immediately prior to the takeover. “Venky’s want global publicity for Brand Venky’s not Brand Rovers,” agreed one fan on the BRFCS.com messageboard. But Deputy CEO Paul Hunt was appropriately stark in the annual report’s ‘Challenges ahead’ section: “The club must preserve its Premier League status.” After all, Football League status won’t “build” any “brand.” So the Raos’ complacency about relegation is mystifying – unless they believe relegation won’t be enforced on an established “EPL brand.”

Financial commitments are also going unfulfilled. Before Christmas, the club bankers, Barclays demanded that Venky’s deposit £10m in Rovers’ bank account by 31 December, otherwise the bank’s willingness to extend overdraft facilities would be tested. Venky’s say Barclays are ignoring the company’s ability to cover any overdraft. But, according to Nick Harris, on his informative Sporting Intelligence website, Venky’s have a “long-standing agreement…(to)…inject specific sums of capital at certain times.” Barclay’s claim this agreement has been breached and the accounts suggest that loans have met Venky’s takeover commitment to “(funding) on a systematic basis.” The document also said Venky’s intended to “support the existing management team and staff.” This would be over-restrictive as a commitment. As the annual report notes: “With many company acquisitions, there are people who leave the business.” But Venky’s have lost valuable employees, while adequate replacements have been found belatedly, or not at all.

There is the mark of farce, for instance, in appointing a deputy chief executive where no CEO exists. And Venky’s have not said who, if anyone, is fulfilling the role. Other key appointments were made months after posts were vacated. New finance director Karen Silk arrived four months after predecessor Martin Goodman resigned – fifteen days before signing off the 2010/11 accounts. Hunt was made Deputy CEO eight days before the end of that accounting period. And respected ex-chairman John Williams has not been formally replaced. Predecessor Robert Coar is a non-executive director. But Williams’ knowledge, experience and reputation would have been more relevant and helpful. And it is hard to believe he would have resigned if he had faith in the Raos. The £18.6m loss is partly because of this leadership and control vacuum. Ex-manager Sam Allardyce was not averse to paying agents fees. But proper financial control would have avoided a £1.65m agents’ fee for Ruben Rochina’s £398,000 transfer last January.

Venky’s are not without support. But these supporters are few and, to use a Blackburn phrase, there are about four thousand holes in their arguments. They happily discredit the more outlandish accusations thrown at the Raos – and there have been plenty of them – while ignoring more genuine issues. They emphasise the “£10m” Venky’s invested in, and the “£43m” they spent, to buy Rovers, while ignoring the promised £10m Venky’s haven’t invested since and the fact that half of the £43m was bank debt. They claim Rovers’ financial problems are exaggerated by financially-illiterate scaremongers, even though the accounts say they “will require significant funding in addition to the current facilities available” over the next 18 months to remain a going concern. They still believe Venky’s will promote Rovers, not the other way around and that their media problems are the media’s fault. Even among these fans, though, Kean’s continued employment is a puzzle…or just plain wrong.

There have been strategic differences among protestors. Some have been frighteningly intense. While shortly before Christmas, others called a “truce” to allow a meeting with Kean and club officials. Rovers postponed the meeting, which would have (because it would have?) discussed 64 questions on topics from decision-making structures to Kean’s allegedly-fraught relationship with senior players. Then Blackburn lost at home to Bolton and the protests re-exploded. So the recently-published “United Statement by Blackburn Rovers fans” was hailed as a considerable drafting achievement, as all the various supporters groups and websites put aside those differences and put their names to it.

The “United Statement” called for “the appointment of a respected manager who has the requisite experience to preside over our proud club” and “an administrative structure… becoming of a modern institution such as a Premier League football club” as “the first steps in the restitution of our football club.” But it did not demand the Raos’ exit, perhaps acknowledging the limit of supporters’ power to remove 99.9% club owners, if they want to stay. This (and the use of the word “becoming”) might have been a recipe for division a matter of weeks ago. Rovers’ situation has become too desperate for those divisions.

So the protests continue. As a counter, Anderson this week (ab)used his Sky interview to smear protesters, suggesting “other things were going on which we are not aware of”…by which he meant – or at least meant to insinuate – racism from those who “don’t want the Venky’s (sic) to succeed, for whatever reason.” And in case viewers hadn’t taken the hint, Sky added footage of Rovers protestors, arms outstretched, framed to suggest some had only one arm outstretched. It was a disgusting attempt to discredit the protest movement. And both Anderson and Sky would be shamed by it… if either knew the emotion existed.

Venky’s must change. Premier League status still underpins everything they are trying to achieve. So they should be seeking to maintain that status at all costs. Yet that is precisely what they are not doing. They have bristled at paying £10m in January to which they are already committed. So they will be extremely reluctant to part with the cash required to strengthen a squad about which the current league table is not lying. They simply must overcome this reluctance. If they do not, and Rovers are relegated, they will stand condemned by their own criteria, whatever the other mistakes they have made.

(I would like to thank “Fernhurst Rover” for his help in researching this article).

Covers the story so far, very well I think, spin that if you can JA

[Guest Rovers4Good]

JA knows fully what is going on at Rovers and the fact that he came out to speak such nonsense totally bewilders me.

The man is a fool of the highest nature and he knows that he has been a contributing factor in the demise of our once proud football club.

Oh yeh and your son has got to be one of the worst footballers i've ever seen that man has stole a living even more than Shefki Kuqi

[mhead]

That article is for printing and putting copies in every bag and jacket pocket. Well found guys!

[The Dart]

Link to the fantastic piece above. People outside of Rovers would learn alot if they read it, or maybe ignorance is bliss.

[sijoco]

What a superb peice of INVESTIGATIVE journalism. The so called professionals in the media could learn a hell of a lot about doing their jobs properly from the writer.

[bob fleming]

What a superb peice of INVESTIGATIVE journalism. The so called professionals in the media could learn a hell of a lot about doing their jobs properly from the writer.

Absolutely spot on. The best piece written on the situaton to date.

[Penster]

If Mr Anderson believes there to be 'dark forces' at work behind the fans protest then why could he not explain WHAT exactly he is referring to and present us with the evidence? Oh, but then this is the nature of 'spin'- you can pretty much hint at anything you wish without having to go thru the tedious business of having any proof what so ever. It would appear that what was once the scourge of politics ( Alister Campbell was a Grand Master)is now a tool for Venky's Chief Apologist...

[den]

Because Penster, he didn't set out to explain the situation, he set out to blame the fans for all the ills.

He didn't make one single criticism of himself, Kean or the owners, did he? - That's a genuine question, because I wont lower myself to watch it and get even more angry at the situation.

[Amo]

Anderson doesn't have an ounce of credibility, if he did he wouldn't be censoring public opinion on these forums, would he?

He assisted Venky's in the takeover, after which, his agent Steve Kean replaced Sam Allardyce as manager, and we signed his son, Myles, who before joining Rovers had played exactly ONE game for Aberdeen. Anyone with half a brain can put the pieces together. He really has no leg to stand on. The Sky Sports interview was actually a failed PR stunt because now several parties will become aware of his presence at the club and realize the kind of corruption that's happened at the club. Whether they'll care or not is another matter.

[Roost]

This is some blog:

MODS hopefully you can allow this?

[Disillusioned Rover]

This is some blog:

MODS hopefully you can allow this?

One of the best articles i've read in a long long time, superb.

[John]

Anderson doesn't have an ounce of credibility, if he did he wouldn't be censoring public opinion on these forums, would he?

He assisted Venky's in the takeover, after which, his agent Steve Kean replaced Sam Allardyce as manager, and we signed his son, Myles, who before joining Rovers had played exactly ONE game for Aberdeen. Anyone with half a brain can put the pieces together. He really has no leg to stand on. The Sky Sports interview was actually a failed PR stunt because now several parties will become aware of his presence at the club and realize the kind of corruption that's happened at the club. Whether they'll care or not is another matter.

Appointed the magical John Jensen too which made the world sit up and take notice - sheer coincidence that he is part of the SEM agency too. Kean and him have been close pals for years and always wanted to work (and fail) together

[Penster]

Because Penster, he didn't set out to explain the situation, he set out to blame the fans for all the ills.

He didn't make one single criticism of himself, Kean or the owners, did he? - That's a genuine question, because I wont lower myself to watch it and get even more angry at the situation.

Indeed he didn't, Den. I sat through the whole twenty minute interview getting increasingly more angry as he spun his way through his own personal PR exercise. It wasn't pleasant-but had to be done; the first rule of warfare is to Know Your Enemy and we fans do now seem to be at war with the likes of Anderson, Venkys, Kean and the majority of the media.

Lets just hope that Anderson's PR exercise fails spectacularly-not many fans from other clubs had probably even heard of the guy until now and if they investigate a little further and find out what is really happening in this corner of East Lancashire it can only be good for rectifying the tarnished image of Rover's fans.

[Ricky]

You didn't say it was a draft glen, you said at the top that you'd issued it to the press.

If a report lands on my desk with typos and punctuation errors it promptly gets returned.

[Amo]

I'll be your PR guy if you just need someone to spot some spelling mistakes.

[yoda]

You didn't say it was a draft glen, you said at the top that you'd issued it to the press.

If a report lands on my desk with typos and punctuation errors it promptly gets returned.

Calm down,

these are from the LT and there are typos!

the typos don't degrade the point that is being made.

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/opinion/9470662.Open_letter_to_Blackburn_Rovers_owners_Venky___s/

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/opinion/9470662.Open_letter_to_Blackburn_Rovers_owners_Venky___s/

and it looks like the LT have got their act together now. keep up the good work LT,

this going to backfire on JA big style

[Aberdeen Blue]

Myles, who before joining Rovers had played exactly ONE game for Aberdeen.

Just for clarity Topman the majestic Myles managed 2 whole minutes as a sub when the Dons were 5-0 up. A few locals up here who saw him in the Aberdeen reserves gave me the following critique of his abilities, "Gash!". As these boys are used to watching shyte week in week out I can only bow to their objective knowledge.

[Amo]

Just for clarity Topman the majestic Myles managed 2 whole minutes as a sub when the Dons were 5-0 up. A few locals up here who saw him in the Aberdeen reserves gave me the following critique of his abilities, "Gash!". As these boys are used to watching shyte week in week out I can only bow to their objective knowledge.

What did he do in those two minutes?

[Aberdeen Blue]

What did he do in those two minutes?

Played in a similar manner to Chris Smalling apparently........

[Amo]

Played in a similar manner to Chris Smalling apparently........

Eh, you can't judge any player in a matter of minutes. That's no defence of Anderson. If anything, the fact he only 'starred' for two minutes makes his signing even more incriminating.

[Aberdeen Blue]

Eh, you can't judge any player in a matter of minutes. That's no defence of Anderson. If anything, the fact he only 'starred' for two minutes makes his signing even more incriminating.

Whoooosh!

I don't even think they noticed him. However they saw him play for the Aberdeen reserves on occasion and said he was shyte and not good enough for the SPL